Michèle Girardon (9 August 1938 – 25 March 1975), sometimes credited as Michele Girardon, was a French actress.

Career

Born in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, France, Girardon began acting as early as 1956, and had a small but noticeable role as a deaf-mute beauty in director

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

's '' La mort en ce jardin (Death in the Garden)'' (1956). She soon became prominent in a host of films, including those of notable directors of the

French New Wave The New Wave (, ), also called the French New Wave, is a French European art cinema, art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentat ...

. She is probably best known as an actress for her work in director Louis Malle's '' Les Amants (The Lovers)'' in 1958, and the 1961

Howard Hawks Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter of the Classical Hollywood cinema, classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American ...

production of ''

Hatari! ''Hatari!'' (, Swahili for "Danger!") is a 1962 American adventure romantic comedy film starring John Wayne as the leader of a group of professional game catchers in Africa.McCarthy, Todd. ''Howard Hawks: the grey fox of Hollywood'', New York, ...

'' starring

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...

and Hardy Krüger; for the latter, as she spoke no English when cast in the role, she taught herself English while on the set, according to a July 1961 ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' magazine profile of the actress. The same article stated she was signed to a five–year contract with

Paramount Studios Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production and distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount Global. It is the sixth-oldest film studio i ...

. 1963 proved to be her most active year, with several avant garde films to her credit including

Pierre Kast Pierre Kast (; 22 September 192020 October 1984) was a French people, French screenwriter, film and television director, and freedom fighter. Biography Prior to his work in film, Kast was a resistance activist in World War II, opposing the Vichy F ...

's ''Vacances Portugaises ( Portuguese Vacations)'', André Cayatte's experimental 'paired' films ''Jean-Marc ou La vie conjugale (Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Jean-Marc)'', and ''Françoise ou La vie conjugale (Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Françoise)'', and director

Éric Rohmer Jean Marie Maurice Schérer or Maurice Henri Joseph Schérer, known as Éric Rohmer (; 21 March 192011 January 2010), was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and teacher. Rohmer was the last of the Post-war, p ...

's ''La Boulangère de Monceau (The Girl at the Monceau Bakery)''. Girardon also worked in television. In 1967, she played Nicole in the first season of ''Les Chevaliers du ciel''. The success of this series brought her a very high level of popularity.

Love and suicide

During the 1960s, Girardon became romantically involved with a married Spanish nobleman and occasional actor, José Luis de Vilallonga, whom she had first met on the set of ''Les Amants''. The couple lived together throughout much of the 1960s. By 1971, Girardon's acting career was over and after finally obtaining his divorce in 1972, de Vilallonga ended their relationship to marry another woman, Ursula Dietrich. Girardon never married or had children and became increasingly despondent. She committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

via an overdose of sleeping pills at the age of 36 in Lyon on 25 March 1975. She is interred near Lyon in the Cimetière de Sarcey, Rhône..

Filmography

References

External links

* * 1938 births 1975 suicides 1975 deaths 20th-century French actresses Actresses from Lyon Burials at the Cimetière parisien de Bagneux Drug-related suicides in France French film actresses French television actresses Spaghetti Western actresses Western (genre) film actresses {{France-film-actor-1930s-stub